


Breaking Point

by Mimozka



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, F/M, Family, Friendship, Love, Post Series, new start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 20:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5979577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimozka/pseuds/Mimozka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-series. </p><p>Oliver and the Smoak/Queen family have finally had enough of everything. For once they decide to put themselves first and everyone else second.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anythingbutplatonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anythingbutplatonic/gifts).



 

 

It takes yet another almost near death - another close call - for the dam to break. For Oliver to realize that he had put people’s desires, wants, plans, and agendas before his own for almost half of his life. That he’s been paying other people’s sins for years. Sins that he had no business atoning for.

He thought he could have it all - the family, the public life, and be a hero. The truth is - he can’t. He can’t have it all and he should have known better than to try, because it never ended well. Not for him. Never for him.

He’s seen his brother, sister, and wife on the cold medbay table one time too many than he can bear. 

He’s done. For the first time in 13 years he is ready to put Oliver Queen first. 

If that makes him selfish - that’s fine. He’s earned the right to be. He has paid for it with his blood and the blood of his friends and family.

If that makes him unreliable in the face of the city he’s fought so hard to protect (even when all it had to give him was death threats, manhunts and ungratefulness) then so be it. There are others who can protect the city now. Other people willing to put their lives on hold for the greater good. 

Beating up criminals is not the only way to help people. There are countless other ways for him to explore. And he will.

He asks Thea and Felicity to join him. He tells them that he wants to go away. For good this time. That he can no longer stay in this place that has not been a home to him for a long time. A place that has brought him more pain and suffering than it has given him good memories.

He asks Donna to come with them, knowing that she could use the break of her own hard life.

 A fresh start some place new. Where who they were or what their name is didn’t matter. Where the only thing that matters is the present.

Felicity approves, of course she would love to have her mother close. Thea agrees, because while not a day goes by that she doesn’t miss Moira, Donna’s presence makes it a little bit easier to bear. 

They settle on a small village in Sicily. 

They sell all their belongings and liquidate their assets. Felicity lets Curtis take over as CEO and instead opts to be a silent partner of his and takes a spot on the board of directors. That would allow her to contribute from a distance.

Thea liquidates all of Merlyn’s assets. She donates some of the money to relief charities for the Undertaking. Knowing he would turn in his grave if he saw her. In Thea’s mind that was all the more reason to do it.

Donna quits her job at the hotel and leases her apartment to a nice couple before making it over to Star City.

They arrive at Manfria - a village on the southern coast with a population of barely 390 people. 

They manage to find two neighboring houses - one for Oliver and Felicity and one for Thea. Donna finds herself a small cottage down the road and insists to pay for it on her own no matter how much Felicity insists that she can afford it. In the end Donna wins that argument, because while Felicity is quite persuasive, Donna taught her everything she knows.

The houses are run down and need work, but they are more than happy to work on them.

They knock the fens between their house and Thea’s. That way they can have one property while living in separate houses.

Oliver installs ramps and makes the house as accomodating for Felicity as possible.

Her, Thea and Donna are on interior decoration mode while Oliver takes care of the exteriors. The roof needs replacing, the house needs a fresh coat of paint and the ladies spend mornings in the yard pouring over catalogues while Felicity occassionaly sneaks a glance at Oliver working (Donna does too, but only because she’s appreciative of a good looking man and it’s so much fun to tease Felicity).

Thea buys herself a dog, because why not? (and because the house could get really lonely sometimes). A dog that gets attached to Oliver and joins him on a run every morning.

On their second week there there’s a loud crash from Thea’s house that’s followed by yelling. The thing is - the yelling comes from two people and it’s in English.

Thea, half crying half laughing, bursts into her brother’s home that morning to see both him and Felicity smiling at her.

She pauses and it dawns on her - they did it. They planned it. For her. For **them**.

Roy Harper steps into the room soon after and nudges Thea playfully on his way to embrace Oliver and Felicity. 

It was only fair, Oliver tells his sister, that she got her happy ending, too. Both her and Roy deserved it and he could never imagine a better match for her.

They make arrangements for dinner and Roy teases him endlessly about his cooking skills. Oliver smiles and threatens to leave him hungry.

Donna and Roy get along so well so quickly that it’s almost scary. This house has too many sass machines. Oliver can tell by the trepidation on Felicity’s face that she fears that between Donna, Thea and Roy, they’ve created a sass monster. 

They keep in touch with John and Lyla. They skype at least once a week and they miss their ~~friends~~ **family** more than words.

William comes to stay with them over the summer and Roy has fun teaching him all sorts of Italian expressions that have Oliver want to shoot Roy a fourth time since he’s known him.

Thea spoils him with a different ice-cream flavour every day and Felicity helps him learn some Italian (since she speaks it best out of them all).

They go to the zoo in the nearest big city and Thea and Roy take William to the beach.

On their fifth anniversary, John, Lyla and Sara come to visit them. 

Oliver and Felicity’s gift to them is the house across from theirs that was recently vacated. For all their protests, they accept the gift once Felicity tells them that this way they can come and visit whenever they want to and they can lease it when they don’t use it.

It’s a beautiful life that they build for themselves in the Sicilian countryside. A quiet, humble life. It’s more than Oliver could have ever foreseen for himself, more than he could have ever hoped for.

For once in his life he chose Oliver Queen. For once in his life he was sure he made the right choice. He had no regrets. None whatsoever.

 


End file.
